A Communicative Grammar of English [antikvár]

Preface This is a thoroughly revised edition of A Communicative Grammar of English. When the first edition appeared in 1975, 'communicative competence' was probably a new concept to many of our readers. Now in the 1990s, the communicative approach has established itself as an efficient and popular method for learning foreign languages and, within that framework, A Communicative Grammar of English has established itself as an innovative grammar. This new edition of the grammar makes use of real examples and gives increased emphasis on spoken English. We also believe it is easier to use than the first edition. The presentation is more 'pedagogical' in giving simpler explanations, in providing more examples, and in making clear the distinctions between major and minor points. The basic design of the book remains the same, but the numbering of sections has been changed. Of the four parts of the first edition, the first two parts have been revised and combined, so that the new book is divided into three parts: • Part One: A guide to the use of this book • Part Two: Grammar in use • Part Three: A-Z in English grammar. We are confident that those who are used to the first edition will have little difficulty in adapting to this new version of the book. This book is partly based on Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech and Jan Svartvik, A Comprehensive Grammar of the Enghsh Language (Longman, 1985). However, it cannot be regarded as a condensed version of that larger work since its arrangement is totally different, and it contains additional material (especially in Part Two). On the other hand, the structural or formal aspect of grammar is less comprehensively treated here than in the larger work and also Sidney Greenbaum and Randolph Quirk, A Student's Grammar of the English Language (Longman, 1990). We have therefore added to each entry in Part Three a reference to the most relevant sections of A Comprehensive Grammar of the Enghsh Language, so that, if required, a more detailed treatment of the topic can be consulted in that book. We have attempted to simplify grammatical terminology and classifications as far as possible, so that the terms and categories treated in Part Three do not in every case correspond to the same terms in the Comprehensive Grammar.